CNN Newsroom: Interview With Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL)

Interview

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You too, Fredricka. Thank you so much.

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Well, I mean President Biden, like President Obama before him, inherited an absolute mess, coming out of the pandemic, from clearly the disastrous way that former President Trump handled the pandemic. And he was able to not only make sure that millions of jobs were saved, and small businesses were prevented from going under, but now he's begun to really get our economy turned around, 13 million jobs created, near historic -- near historic low unemployment. We have wages that are finally outpacing inflation.

And so with the investments in green energy and investments -- infrastructure investments and even reshoring manufacturing jobs, it is pretty clear that although we're making a lot of progress, the sort of hangover from the pandemic, which was obviously a century (ph), unprecedented situation is still causing melancholy, and also, you know, the impact of those investments is going to take some time to bake in. But that's our job, to make sure that we communicate.

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I do think. Just like with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, during the Obama years, making sure that the label, the infrastructure investments, and the wi-fi investments, and the superfund cleanup, and all of the investments that are being made, the jobs that are being brought back from overseas, the super computers that are going to be built as a result of chips being manufactured here, all of that has to be communicated very visibly, and also comprehensively.

And eventually you will start to see that baking in. You have seen improvements in the president's job numbers, improvements in his numbers overall, in terms of Democrats and Republicans being supportive of the improvements, but we've got to continue to communicate.

And President Biden and Vice President Harris and Democrats across the country, including great governors like Governor Whitmer are really making time to do that.

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Look, this is all on Ron DeSantis. He is the epitome of the MAGA extremism whiplash. Ron DeSantis and MAGA extremists, Donald Trump, the entire field of Republican candidates for president, their focus is on culture wars. Their focus is on taking care of the wealthiest, most fortunate Americans by supporting and passing tax breaks for the wealthiest that are unpaid for that blows holes in the deficit.

They have nothing on their agenda, so all they can do is focus on culture wars, which includes trying to ban abortion nationwide. And that is the contest that you're going to have going into this election.

Do Americans want to continue down the road that Bidenomics have taken us and make sure that we can invest in those jobs that are reducing unemployment that are making sure that wages outpace inflation, that are making sure that we continue the 13 million job growth that we've had (INAUDIBLE). What do we want to go down to or back to MAGA extremism that focuses on taking people's rights away and pits Americans against one another.

That's a very clear contrast and I think that is going to have an impact on this election.

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You know, I'm focused on making sure that we can continue, me as a member of congress, on making the kinds of investments that are going to continue us moving down the road that we're moving down, and improving our economy.

Side shows on Fox News, are really not something that the American people are interested in. They're interested in making sure that they can feel more comfortable on the firm economic ground that President Biden is building. And as a Democratic member of Congress, I'm looking forward to continuing to help us do that.

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You know, what's concerning to me is that we make sure that we continue to invest in our economy, that we continue to fight back against Republican MAGA extremism, as we're doing in Congress, and President Biden has been doing. And that's what American people -- I know my constituents want me to focus on the issues that are important to them -- growing jobs, and continuing to make the kinds of investments that we need to improve our economy and make them feel like they're on firmer footing.

And you know, what Ron DeSantis does to try to breathe life into his nearly dead campaign 6really isn't something of concern to me.

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Thank you. Thanks Fredricka.

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